State pouring cash into bottled water

Critics: Millions wasted when public supply's healthy and free

Since July, the state has spent more than $350,000 on bottled water, an expenditure activists say is equivalent to pouring money down the drain.

State budget figures obtained last week through the Massachusetts Open Checkbook website show this is on track to be similar to bottled-water spending in the past three fiscal years.

The total amount state departments spent on bottled water from 2010 to January 2013 adds up to over $2.4 million.

"They're spending millions on bottled water instead of choosing the tap water, in spite of the fact we have wonderful public water systems," said Erin Diaz of Boston-based Corporate Accountability International, an organization that works to protect the environment and public health against what its members see as dangerous and irresponsible corporate behavior.

Corporate Accountability International maintains that government spending on bottled water is not only a waste of limited state resources, but sends the wrong message about the condition of public water systems.

Almost 9 percent of the $354,413 in bottled-water purchases were made by the Department of Corrections.

The Department of Transportation has spent $26,817, while the Department of Developmental Services has spent $22,244, the Department of Mental Health $20,630 and the Department of Revenue $19,480.

Together, these six departments account for one-third of the state's total spending on bottled water so far in fiscal 2013.

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Corporate Accountability International's Think Outside the Bottle campaign, of which Diaz is a senior organizer, encourages institutions to embrace tap water instead.

"There's nothing really more convenient of having water come right out your tap and using a refillable bottle or whatever," Diaz said.

Not all government offices, though, see this as a feasible alternative.

"For safety and security reasons, we provide water to staff who are not allowed to bring water into secure institutions, as well as to staff who work in buildings that have no water faucet," said Department of Corrections Public Affairs Director Diane Wiffin.

Of the state's 159 governmental departments, 102 have spent money on bottled water this fiscal year, from $14.58 the Franklin County Sheriff's Department spent at Greenfield grocery store Foster's Market, to the $31,300 spent by the Department of Corrections.

A legislative effort to halt this spending is now in the works. A bill filed in January by state Rep. Tom Sannicandro, D-Ashland, seeks to ban the buying of bottled water with public funds. Corporate Accountability International backs the measure.

In a statement, Sannicandro called on state officials to lead by example and choose tap water over bottled.

"There is no reason we should spend taxpayers' money on a product that is unnecessary, expensive and harmful to the environment when there are clean and cheap alternatives," he said.

Six other states -- Connecticut, Vermont, New York, Colorado, Maryland and Illinois -- have already banned government spending on bottled water.

The local move comes on the heels of a plastic water bottle prohibition in Concord, where it's no longer legal for retailers to sell single-serve bottles of water, after a three-year campaign by environmental activists.

The Concord ban was condemned by the International Bottled Water Association, a Virginia-based trade group that issued a statement last month explaining its stance that discouraging the purchase of bottled water goes against public interest.

"People choose bottled water for several reasons, including its refreshing taste, reliable quality, zero calories and additives, and convenience," the statement reads. "Banning or restricting access to bottled water in the marketplace directly impacts the right of people to choose the healthiest beverage on the shelf."

A spokesman for the association did not respond to a request for comment on the proposed spending ban in Massachusetts.

According to International Bottled Water Association data, the bottled-water industry in Massachusetts directly employs 3,303 workers and generates $129,740,850 in state tax revenue.

Most of the state government's spending on bottled water does not stay within the commonwealth. Of the 10 vendors, six were located in Massachusetts, including Foster's Market. A sum of $82,835, less than a quarter of the total spending, was used to buy bottled water from Bay State merchants this fiscal year. The bulk of it -- $71,012 -- went to the Waltham-headquartered Atlas Watersystems Inc., which holds a state contract for bottled water, emergency bottled water, water filtration services and reverse osmosis purification.

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